Caged
by rosiehope
Summary: Emma wasn't sure what had happened, one minute she was with her son, and the next a grown version of him was emerging through a portal telling her that the man she was slowly starting to fall in love with was destined to die.


_Family, it was a word she had never truly understood, but always longed for more than anything. When Emma was a little girl all she had ever wanted was family. All she had wanted was someone to give a damn about her. It was all she had ever believed she need, if she could just have a family then everything else would fall into place, everything else would be perfect, because that's what life was with family, perfect, or at least that's how it always was from the outside looking in._

"So maybe," Emma finally relented, "We should have gotten that apartment by the docks."

Henry shot her a glare – something he had perfected during their time in New York – as she realized that he had been right, just a few weeks too late, they should have moved out of Snow's apartment as soon as Neal had been born.

It had been a month, a month since they had gotten rid of Zelena, a month since the time portal had become completely unstable, and a month since she had become a big sister to a baby who she was convinced had been sent to her parents from hell.

But most importantly, it had been a month since she or Henry – the nights he wasn't staying with Regina – had gotten any semblance of sleep.

"I think I like kids better when they knock on your door after ten years, and already know how to use their words."

"Yeah, you really lucked out in the child department."

That was something else Emma had learned over the past month, while her son was almost all Neal personality wise – kind, gentle, sweet, and with the slightest but ever present hint of mischievousness – at three in the morning Henry was all Emma, complete with a biting retort for everything.

"I could take you to Regina's." Emma offered as Henry finally moved from where he had been leaning against her doorframe for the better part of the past five minutes.

"It's three in the morning, Mom." He sighed as Emma pulled up the covers so Henry could get in, "And we did that last night."

This was the only positive repercussion of having a newborn baby brother who cried every hour as if on cue, it always caused Henry to come to her room, and climb into bed with her, and simply hang out with her till he finally fell back asleep – only to be awakened by Neal again.

It was something she missed when he was little, she had never gotten a chance to let him climb into her bed when he was little and protect him from all the irrational things he was scared of. While it wasn't exactly the same, they always had their way of doing things, and this was close enough.

It was nice to make up for some of the lost moments she thought she would never get back.

"You know if we were in New York there would be so many things we could do." Henry pointed out as they both laid on their sides – facing each other.

"Do you miss it?" Emma asked.

It was unspoken, but they both knew that if Henry ever wanted, all he had to do was say the word, and they would be out of Storybrooke within the hour.

"Not as much as I'd miss it here if we lived in New York."

Emma lifted her head slightly at the sound of a loud curse from downstairs, and rolled her eyes.

"First time parents." She joked.

"Do you ever wonder-" Henry cut himself off as he hesitated.

Emma remained silent as she let Henry collect his thoughts, and maybe even some of his courage, but when it became clear that he wasn't going to go on, Emma pulled herself out of bed, shoving her plaid pajama clad legs into her boots.

"Let's go kid."

"Where?" He asked as he scrambled out of bed as well.

"Out," She shrugged pulling on one of the only jackets she owned that wasn't made out of leather, and tossed one of Henry's that he had left lying around at some point, "Let's make our own New York."

"How do we do that?" Henry asked as he pulled on his own shoes before they moved down the staircase.

"I don't know," Emma shrugged, "We'll figure it out."

"Hey," Mary Margaret smiled even in her sleepless state as Henry and Emma emerged into the dimly lit living room, "Did he wake you?"

"Of course not," Emma said dryly, "We're going out."

"But it's three in the morning." David protested.

"And I'm thirty-one." She countered before pulling open the front door, waving at her parents, and shutting the door before they could say anything else in protest.

"What?" She asked as Henry looked at her.

"You didn't even ask."

"I'm thirty-one." Emma repeated.

"So when I'm thirty-one-" Henry began.

"Not a chance, kid." Emma cut him off as they exited the apartment building.

There was something about Storybrooke at night. There was no clubs, no bars, no night life whatsoever, but Emma preferred that way. There was never a peaceful moment during the daytime in Storybrooke, something was always, always going wrong.

But nights in Storybrooke were often peaceful, quiet, there were very few people who walked on the streets, and it was the only time Storybrooke actually felt like a small town, as opposed to the vastness of danger it usually felt like.

Despite the fact that it took a lot to make her feel fear, it did get tiring, constantly looking over her shoulder.

"You know," Henry said quietly, "Sometimes I come out here at night."

"By yourself?" Emma asked sharply turning her head to look at Henry whose gaze was fixated on the simple direction of forward.

"Who else? I don't really have friends, Mom."

"Henry," Emma breathed. She knew what it was like to grow up without friends, she knew what it was like to be alone, but more than either of those things she knew exactly what it was like to be lonely, and it was a feeling she had promised herself she would never, ever let her son feel.

It was something she should have noticed, it was the reason why he had come to find her in the first place three years ago, because he was lonely, she had just never thought that she would still be lonely after that.

Emma of all people should have known better than that, just because Mary Margaret and David were in her life, it didn't automatically take the loneliness away, it didn't take away the twenty-eight years she had spent alone.

By that same notion, just because she was in Henry's life now, just because he had Regina, it didn't mean that the first ten years of his life had never happened, and even worse than that, Henry had endured living in a home where he was sure someone was just pretending to love him, he lived in a world where people he had thought he had been crazy.

Of course the kid was lonely.

"It's okay," He said quickly – always quick to brush things off, never one to worry anyone else, always wanting to solve problems himself, some days Emma was sure if she had never come to Storybrooke, Henry would have found a way to break the curse himself, "I've just been thinking about that a lot lately."

"About being alone?" Emma asked carefully.

"I know I'm not alone, Mom," Henry said simply, "I mean about life, in general."

"Are you sure you're thirteen?"

"Well I'm not thinking about the meaning of it," Henry rolled his eyes, "I'm just thinking about my life."

Emma opened her mouth, to say something, anything, but when she realized she had nothing to say, she shut it again, especially because it seemed like this was one of those moments where she should remain silent.

Henry had been through a lot between Peter Pan and Zelena and constantly being separated from the people he loved, and it wasn't the first time Emma had wondered what was going through his head, he always seemed so happy, so on the go, that she had to wonder if he was really as okay as he looked.

Even after being taken to Neverland, and having his heart taken, and his body taken, he never acted like anything had happened. Emma didn't even know most of what went on in Neverland, he didn't talk about, not ever.

Not to her, not to Regina, not to David, not to Mary Margaret, not to Archie, not to anyone.

"What is that?"

"Huh?" Emma asked confused, before tearing her gaze away from Henry – who she had been staring at – to look at what he had been, "What the hell?"

The shed where the time portal – that they still hadn't managed to permanently close – was, was emitting the power it always did when it went off, straight through the whole in the shed, but it was always, always green, the color of Zelena's magic, this time it wasn't.

It was white, pure white.

"Stay here." Emma ordered as she crossed the street only to have Henry follow her, at least she could say she had tried, even though she knew that it would only be in vain.

"What do you think's happening?" Henry asked as Emma drew her gun the closer they got to the shed, she wasn't taking any chances, despite the fact that nothing had come out of Zelena's portal since she and Killian had come back, it had never shined white.

"I don't know." She muttered as Leroy – who was in the middle of his guard shift – came racing towards them, "What's happening?"

"Something's coming," He yelled, "Something powerful! I can feel the magic!"

"Henry, stay here!" Emma repeated for what felt like the millionth time.

But just as the order passed her lips, it was like the storm passed completely, the light died out, and the magic, the power, that even she had felt, was gone, almost like it had never happened, like it was all in their heads.

"I don't understand," Leroy muttered, "It was just there."

"Stay close to me." Emma said to Henry knowing that there was no use even asking him to stay put as she edged to the entrance of the shed where there were no longer doors, before she quickly turned on her heel, pointing the gun forward.

The gun quickly clattered to the ground as Emma took a step backwards not believing what her eyes were telling her.

"Is that?" Henry breathed as Emma grabbed his arms, as if to make sure he was still there.

He was taller, at some point he had finally hit a growth spurt, he was taller than Emma. He was no longer lanky, but lean and muscled. His hair was shorter than he wore it before, and his face no longer held the signs of adolescence, but rather the face of a warrior, of someone who had seen far too much.

He wore a leather jacket – something Emma never thought she would see him in – and a gun was held in his left hand, his right hand, was holding onto another hand – a girl's – but Emma barely noticed her, she simply noticed the way he stood in front of her.

Protectively, ready to fight at a moment's notice, his body shielding her own, like he would die for her.

He had grown up, he had grown up into someone Emma didn't recognize at all, yet somehow, she knew exactly who he was, like this was who he had always been.

"_Henry?"_

_**So hopefully no one is too confused, but basically this is set a month after the season three finale – though there is no Frozen characters – and two people just came out of the time portal, the older version of Henry, and a girl. **_

_**This story is most likely going to be told through two points-of-view, Emma and the older version of Henry. And yes, this story will be Captain Swan.**_


End file.
